第35章 借我那把枪吧

In the military, strength is respected above all else.

After experiencing it firsthand, Benjamin understood this point even more deeply.

With the shooting interface that had appeared out of nowhere thanks to the system, he had shocked the entire firearm battalion with a single shot. The attitude of these recruits toward him had shifted as drastically as a rollercoaster. Their eyes no longer held mockery, but rather a good deal of respect and admiration, and occasionally even a hint of jealousy.

Benjamin felt a bit guilty about this.

Unlike these men who trained arduously, he relied entirely on external help, which wasn't exactly honorable. If not for the sudden appearance of the shooting interface, he would have made a fool of himself. However, once the gun was in his hand, his head had gone hot and he felt an urge to try firing it; once the muzzle was raised, there was no turning back, so he had been forced to ride the tiger.

Therefore, after a brief moment of showing off, he quickly tucked his tail between his legs and kept a low profile.

Facts proved that this was the right thing to do, because soon after, he was worked half to death.

Even in a firearm battalion, physical training was essential for soldiers—regardless of whether they were recruits or veterans. Throughout the morning, aside from that initial shot, Benjamin never touched a gun again. The middle-aged man took the gun back, ordered Benjamin to join the ranks, and then the training began.

The training content was, damn it, running laps.

"A bunch of brats, not even fully grown and you want to touch a gun? Haven't you heard? A gun is something that can take a life! I'm doing this for your own good; you'll thank me later!"

This was the rhetoric of that middle-aged man—their instructor.

Benjamin couldn't help but complain in his heart. The most dangerous person here is clearly you! Keeping a gun with the safety off tucked into your waistband is a recipe for either blowing off your balls or shooting your own ass.

However, he was the only half-baked "recruit" who thought this way. Looking at the others, the instructor's orders were absolute, and whatever the instructor did was right. They executed the duty of obedience quite thoroughly.

There was no helping it; Benjamin wasn't a soldier, he was just here for military training, and it was hard to expect him to be as single-minded as a real soldier. He was a mage; if he lost the ability to think independently and the spirit to question everything, he might as well convert to the Church right now.

Soon, he was singled out by the instructor.

"The one at the back of the line, get out here!"

Having run over ten laps and nearly collapsed from exhaustion, Benjamin walked toward the middle-aged man.

"Weren't you very impressive just now? Where did that energy go? The fastest ones have already run twenty laps, what are you dragging your feet for in the back?" The instructor launched into a verbal assault. "Where did all your strength go? Didn't you eat?"

Benjamin leaned on his knees, panting for a while to catch his breath, then said, "I really didn't eat..."

"Before speaking to a superior, you must shout 'Report, sir'!" Before he could finish, the instructor interrupted him immediately. "Go back! Come over here! Say it again!"

"..."

Benjamin dragged his weary feet back to the running line, then walked out again, returned to the front of the instructor, and with all the strength he could muster, shouted:

"Report, sir! I really didn't eat!"

"..."

The scene was incredibly awkward for a moment.

The expression on the instructor's face seemed to waver, but after several attempts, he finally maintained his fierce look and roared at Benjamin: "Not eating is an excuse! Will the enemy show mercy just because you didn't eat? Go back! Keep running! Don't even think about eating until you finish a hundred laps!"

In the end, Benjamin was carried out of the military camp.

Throughout the entire morning, Benjamin felt he had run more steps than he had in the first half of his life. Fortunately, the maid who brought him had also called a carriage to the camp gate at noon to pick him up, otherwise, he would have collapsed on the way home.

Back at the Riser family estate, he didn't even have the strength to go to the dining room for lunch with the others; he could only return to his bedroom and collapse onto his bed, unable to get up again. He had Jeremy bring him a few pieces of bread, and he satisfied his hunger while lying in bed.

After finishing the bread, he sent Jeremy off on another errand and stayed in his bedroom alone, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep.

However, he didn't. He pulled himself together, entered his mental space, and began his daily magic practice.

This had become a daily routine that could never be interrupted.

Under the meditation of this period, the Triangle Glyph had almost changed completely. The light it emitted had shifted from pale blue to deep blue, as if it contained infinite magic, possessing a dizzying sense of mystery. And the water ball summoned through it was already larger than the fat head of Axel Full.

Benjamin estimated that if he compressed the water ball in his hand and threw it, unless there was thick armor to block it, it could easily knock out a strong adult male.

From washing someone's face to punching someone, this move could be considered to have taken initial shape.

Not only that, but as the Triangle Glyph strengthened, Benjamin felt that his control over magic was improving bit by bit. The speed of summoning water balls was getting faster, and his control over them was becoming stronger.

He could now skillfully use water balls to simulate a defensive water bubble around himself. Of course, the defensive power of the water bubble was still far from enough; while it wouldn't pop at a single poke, it could still be easily broken by anything sharp.

Benjamin was not satisfied with this. He was going to use this to fight mages and priests. If it couldn't even block the blades of mortals, how could it be called a defensive spell? Any knight could break it, let alone a "Purifier".

He had to keep practicing!

As for the healing effect of the Water Ball Spell, Benjamin had also studied it for a while. He had deliberately used the spell over twenty times, finally summoning a few drops of the Water of Life to observe the difference between it and the Water Ball Spell.

Through observation, he discovered that the water elements within the Water of Life were combined in a very special structure, somewhat like a strange cube. A group of water elements combined in this structure would emit a wondrous vitality. It was this vitality that brought the healing ability of the Water of Life.

Applying this to the Water Ball Spell, Benjamin found that controlling water elements at a microscopic level was extremely difficult. Fortunately, with the help of the Triangle Glyph, he succeeded in creating a water ball with healing capabilities. It was just that maintaining this structure was currently quite difficult, and the "shelf life" of the healing ability was very short, lasting only about ten seconds.

How to create a healing water ball that could be preserved for a long time would have to wait until the glyph was further strengthened.

Just like that, from attack to defense to healing, although his level wasn't high, Benjamin had begun to grow in all directions, and new skill points were waiting just ahead. This was a period of rapid growth for his strength.

He wished he could forget to eat and sleep, putting all his time into continued cultivation.

If not for the "military training" in the future.

Although it would take up a lot of time, considering the gun, Benjamin didn't resist the military training. It was just that, judging by today's training, he was still a long way from touching a gun, and he didn't know how many more days of running he would have to endure.

But looking on the bright side, his physical fitness should gradually improve.

"By the way, to what extent have firearms developed in this world?" Thinking of this, Benjamin suddenly asked the system.

The system thought for a moment and replied, "Average, how should I put it... there are pistols, cannons, and rifles. Pistols can be reloaded, the power is okay, but they aren't highly valued."

Benjamin frowned: "It feels like you said nothing at all."

The system was immediately displeased and retorted righteously: "There's no internet here, and I'm not an encyclopedia. What do you expect me to know?"

"...Fine." Benjamin had to accept it helplessly.

He had wanted to ask if he could use the system's data to improve the pistol and build an AK27 or something.

But then again, it was true; who would have so much useful data stored on their computer? He was also very curious about how the protagonists in those novels remembered so many contemporary scientific principles. Why was it that after they transmigrated, they could easily push forward technological progress, making chemicals and building cannons, while he couldn't even make a bar of soap?

Having a diligent author who is willing to search Baidu for information is a good thing.

Envious.

But fortunately, the system might have wanted to prove its usefulness, so it went on to introduce the general situation of firearms in this world.

After hearing the system's answer, he realized that the status of guns was not as high as he had imagined.

According to the system, as a world with supernatural powers, magic and divine arts were the dominant forces here, and not just released in war, but also in enchanted swords and blessed armor. Ordinary bullets couldn't even break a blessed shirt, let alone a divine shield. Divine arts could also bless bullets, but the consumption was too high, so they generally only blessed the "bullets" of cannons.

A side note: enchanting a pistol with divine arts or magic was useless, unless you used the pistol to bash someone.

Although many countries equipped their armies with firearm battalions, they were only used as supplementary long-range means and were not highly valued; their status was not even as high as that of the artillery.

Therefore, pistols were generally used by agile mercenaries, or used by nobles and wealthy merchants for self-defense. The gun that Dick had that day must have been stolen from his own home.

This was the situation for pistols in the hands of ordinary people, but for Benjamin, it was different.

He had that shooting system transformed from a web game, so hitting the target every time was not a problem. As for power, enchanting and such, he could learn that later. Therefore, shooting was still very useful for him.

At least, until his water balls could destroy everything, shooting remained his most direct and effective means of attack.

Of course, the premise of all this was that he had a gun.

He still had to find an opportunity to get one.

The state officially prohibited the sale of firearms, but in reality, they had an indifferent attitude. Every noble family would hide a gun or two, and the Riser family was no exception. Benjamin had thought about stealing a gun from home, but if a gun went missing, it would definitely be discovered, which would lead to more trouble, so he had to give up on that.

What he needed was a gun that only he knew about and that he could keep with him at all times.

After much thought, he finally decided to go to the outer city to buy a gun.

Havenlight was the largest city on the continent, and the outer city occupied three-quarters of its area. Although this was also the base of the Church, in recent years, the Church had focused its main energy on outward expansion, so some parts of Havenlight's outer city could even be described as chaotic.

Through repeatedly sending Jeremy on errands, Benjamin's understanding of the outer city had increased significantly. Once, after Jeremy returned, he told Benjamin that he had inadvertently seen a place where firearms were being bought and sold. Therefore, Benjamin going to the outer city wasn't exactly him fumbling in the dark.

He wasn't afraid of the Church knowing this. People from the Church were always around him; although they didn't watch him closely, if he wanted to go buy a gun, it would be impossible to shake them off.

The bishop would certainly know that he had gone to buy a gun, but so what?

In the bishop's eyes, he was just a frightened noble. Especially after what happened in the castle, out of fear of witches and the desire to protect himself, sneaking off to a place like the black market to buy a gun was a very normal thing.

As long as the Church didn't know about his relationship with magic, they wouldn't be suspicious of him.

As for the possible dangers of the outer city, as long as he stayed in an open environment and didn't go into any small rooms, with the Church's people watching, he didn't believe any danger could happen.

Coupled with the pendant the Church gave him, he had the ability to protect himself at this moment. Although there was still a certain amount of risk, if he didn't dare to take this little risk, what kind of transmigrator was he? After all, a pistol was still quite important to him.

However, for the sake of insurance, he still planned to sneak into Claude's study first and, relying on his memory, steal the pistol Claude had hidden to borrow for a while. Once he bought his own gun, he would return it.

Just like that, after lying in bed and practicing all afternoon, the soreness in his body had recovered quite a bit. After dinner, he successfully stole the gun from the study and then snuck out of the Riser estate under the cover of night.

He set off toward the place in Havenlight's outer city where it was said that firearms were bought and sold.